Sometimes when I go to the liquor store I will also pick up a random 'something different' just because. Sometimes it's good and sometimes not. My last exploration was very good! A nice Porter aged in Cognac barrels - yum! Nicely bitter with the smooth finish of the cognac and tiny bubbles.Crappy bberry pics:

That's very cool, Dan. Cheers back atcha! What a treat to have such rare and creative (relatively) local beers. Full Sail has released a couple of Bourbon-barrel aged Porters, and they were very memorable. Yum.

I tried a pumpkin ale when in Boston while weathering out Sandy recently. Beer itself was just OK, but the sugared rim was not for me! The above was a much better experiment. In fact, it's Friday night and I have another bottle in the fridge downstairs...gotta go now!

We used to get Big Rock beers here 20 years ago, and I remember liking them. Good find!

I had the IPA and the Tannen Bomb from Golden Valley Brewery in McMinnville, OR. Absolutely wonderful. The Tannen Bomb was maybe the smoothest, cleanest winter warmer I've had.

Also enjoyed an India Red Lager (I know, don't get me started) which was brewed as a collaboration between Hopworks Urban Brewery and Deschutes for Portland Beer Week. Really interesting. I'm not much of a red/amber fan, but they got the malt just right and it definitely expressed the hops and the yeast, too.